Contemporary business aircraft require sophisticated navigation, flight control and flight support units to provide safe air transportation. Generally, an aircraft electronics unit includes several circuit cards mounted into a chassis or equipment rack. Each of the circuit cards are coupled to various systems or subsystems of an aircraft by a backshell connector and cabling. A non-limiting example of such an electronic unit is a Network Integration Module (NIM) consisting of at least one circuit card (which may have one or more redundant backup circuit cards) that promotes communication between various systems onboard the aircraft.
Due to physical space, wiring harness configurations and other constraints, some backshells require a technician to perform a “blind install” of the backshell to the circuit card. The installation procedure is referred to as “blind” when the technician must attempt to align the mating connector(s) of the backshell with the connector(s) of the circuit card without being able to see the connector(s) or mating connector(s). As will be appreciated, this can be a precarious procedure resulting in bent circuit card pins, damaged connector shrouds or other physical damage that must be repaired or reworked before the technician can again attempt the blind install. Thus, a blind install process can be time-consuming and expensive if multiple installation attempts must be made. Moreover, during the blind installation process, the technician must be grounded (via a ground strap) to protect the backshell and circuit card from electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage. As will be appreciated, the more protracted the handling of the backshell during the installation process, the more likely it is that the backshell or circuit card will suffer physical or ESD damage.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an installation guide for a backshell of an aircraft electronics unit. It is further desirable that the installation guide both protect the backshell and facilitate its interconnection to the circuit card in a way so as not to damage the mating connector(s) of the backshell or the connector(s) of the circuit card. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.